In the United States, storage lockers of the prior art can be found in most any school where they are provided for storage of books, clothing, and the like personal effects of attending students. Lockers can also be found in bus stations, airports, and in dressing rooms of most every professional sports organization. Actual use of a locker is limited only by one's imagination.
One problem with lockers of the prior art, to which this invention addresses, is the predominant use of steel. Conventional lockers are constructed of stamped steel that is painted and then assembled by use of numerous fasteners such as screws, rivets, nuts and bolts. The end product is a rectangular box with right angled edges leaving a fixture having little or no aesthetic appeal. Further, as elaborated below, the steel locker is affected by humidity, has sharp edges, is noisy in operation, easily vandalized, and can be used in only certain environments.
For example, placement of a steel locker in a high humidity room, such as a gymnasium dressing room, will quickly uncover flaws in the coating of the steel leading to unattractive rust. Even if the locker panel is properly coated, fasteners used for assembly are notorious for scaring the locker finish propagating the locker demise.
To save weight, steel locker construction demands that the panels are made from thin sheet metal. Thin sheet metal produces sharp edges that are dangerous to handle during shipping and assembly. Thin sheet metal is noisy in operation as the metal is susceptible to vibration and the hollow structure can create an echo chamber. In schools where lockers typically line the hallways, simultaneous opening and closing of multiple locker doors can create an unbearable noise level leading to class disruption. Further, thin steel metal panels are also prone to vandalism and once a door is kicked or punched with sufficient strength to dent the sheet metal, the locker can be rendered dysfunctional.
Finally, use of a steel locker in a corrosive environment is an expensive proposition due to the need for specialty coatings to prevent corrosion. Simply substituting plastic as the preferred material of construction will fail if prior art teachings are replicated. In addition, plastic fasteners such as screws, nuts, or rivets cannot duplicate the strength of metal fasteners and use of such presents a locker of questionable shear strength.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,363 issued to Andersson et al., attempted to resolve at least a portion of the problem by disclosing a sheet metal locker that is assembled without screws or rivets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,293 issued to St-Germain et al., disclosed a metal storage locker having a door formed into a semi-circle providing resistance to vandalism.
U.S. Pat. 4,447,099 issued to French et al., disclosed a prefabricated light gauge sheet storage locker for use in a bedroom which simulates lockers used by professional sporting organization. The problems remain with all the aforementioned art due to the use of steel for material of construction.
Therefore, what is lacking in the art is a locker having all the strength of a steel locker without steel construction. Namely, a locker constructed of plastic components whose major components snap together to form a construction with durability greater than steel yet providing an aesthetically pleasing locker for residential application.